DATE: June 20, 1907
EVENT: The Marjorie W. arrives in England.
SOURCE: "And so at length, the Marjorie W. came to England, and there the officers and the scientists, filled with compassion for the pitiful wreck of a man they had rescued from the jungles, furnished Paulvitch with funds and bid him and his Ajax/Akut, Godspeed." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
CHAT: Marjorie W's sailing time? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a specific historical record detailing the travel from Luanda, Portuguese Angola to Dover, England in 1907. However, we can estimate the journey based on the transportation methods and conditions of the era.
- The most likely mode of transportation would have been steamship. These vessels were significantly faster and more reliable than sailing ships, but the journey still took weeks.
- The Atlantic Ocean could be unpredictable, especially in certain seasons. Storms, rough seas, and mechanical issues could delay the journey.
Given the distances involved and the transportation methods of the time, a reasonable estimate for the journey from Luanda, Portuguese Angola, to Dover, England in 1907 would be between four to six weeks. This timeframe could vary depending on weather conditions, the specific route taken, port stops, and any unforeseen delays.
For a working date, I used six weeks which is conservative. That allows for some extra time adjustment should it be needed.
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| The Son Of Tarzan |
DATE: June 20, 1907
EVENT: Upon arrival in England Paulvitch took Akut/Ajax, to England to a certain famous animal trainer.
SOURCE: "In London Paulvitch went directly with his prize to a certain famous animal trainer." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
.jpeg "The Son Of Tarzan") |
| The Son Of Tarzan |
DATE: 9:30 at night July 27, 1907
EVENT: Jack tied up his tutor, Mr. Harold Moore, and visited the music hall to see Akut/Ajax.
SOURCE: "So, when he opened the boy's door at about half after nine, he was greatly excited, though not entirely surprised to find the future Lord Greystoke fully dressed for the street and about to crawl from his open bedroom window." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
CHAT: ERB tells us Jack is at home in London, and not at school. This means Tarzan's son is most likely on summer vacation. Although ERB does not say so, Jack probably boards at his school. ERB tells us Jack rides a train to school. When Jack takes Akut/Ajax to Africa it takes Tarzan and Jane several days to find out their son was not at school. If Jack was coming home nightly he could not have disappeared for several days without being detected. July 27 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB. I envision Jack getting out of school on Friday, July 26. At school, Jack had learned about Akut/Ajax, the ape, and the scheduled show for Saturday night.
On page twenty-one of the Ballentine edition, a "closed car" is mentioned. Can a car of this description exist in 1907? The first truly closed car I could find was the Cadillac prototype commissioned by Henry Leland for himself in 1906. He had the Detroit coach builders Seavers and Erdman build it for him. In 1907, that prototype became the first fully enclosed Cadillac built in any number. It was a single-cylinder Model M coupe.
By 1906 there were numerous cars such as Star, Knox, Mercedes, and many others with cloth convertible tops. The 1906 Delauney-Bellevillel may not have been considered a closed car but it had a solid roof and a windshield. It had no side doors, however. On page twenty-three of the Ballantine edition the car description "limousine" is used. Was this modern word suitable in 1907? The word "limousine" originated from the Limousine region of France where shepherds would use an oversized, hooded garment to protect themselves from the weather. The first use of the word Limousine used as the term for an automobile that I could find was the 1906 Cadillac built for Henry Leland.
DATE: July 28, 1907
EVENT: Tarzan visited Akut.
SOURCE: "Tarzan visited Akut the following day." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 28 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
CHAT: ERB tells us Jack is at home in London, and not at school. This means Tarzan's son is most likely on summer vacation. Although ERB does not say so, Jack probably boards at his school. ERB tells us Jack rides a train to school. When Jack takes Akut/Ajax to Africa it takes Tarzan and Jane several days to find out their son was not at school. If Jack was coming home nightly he could not have disappeared for several days without being detected. July 27 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB. I envision Jack getting out of school on Friday, July 26. At school, Jack had learned about Akut/Ajax, the ape, and the scheduled show for Saturday night.
On page twenty-one of the Ballentine edition, a "closed car" is mentioned. Can a car of this description exist in 1907? The first truly closed car I could find was the Cadillac prototype commissioned by Henry Leland for himself in 1906. He had the Detroit coach builders Seavers and Erdman build it for him. In 1907, that prototype became the first fully enclosed Cadillac built in any number. It was a single-cylinder Model M coupe.
By 1906 there were numerous cars such as Star, Knox, Mercedes, and many others with cloth convertible tops. The 1906 Delauney-Bellevillel may not have been considered a closed car but it had a solid roof and a windshield. It had no side doors, however. On page twenty-three of the Ballantine edition the car description "limousine" is used. Was this modern word suitable in 1907? The word "limousine" originated from the Limousine region of France where shepherds would use an oversized, hooded garment to protect themselves from the weather. The first use of the word Limousine used as the term for an automobile that I could find was the 1906 Cadillac built for Henry Leland.
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| Russ Manning |
EVENT: Tarzan visited Akut.
SOURCE: "Tarzan visited Akut the following day." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 28 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
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| J. Allen St. John |
EVEN: Jack goes to visit Akut.
SOURCE: "He had the address, however, which the trainer had given his father, and two days later he found the opportunity to elude his new tutor - who had replaced the terrified Mr. Moore - and after a considerable search through a section of London which he had never before visited he found the smelly little quarters of the pock-marked old man." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 30 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
CHAT: Again ERB informs us that Paulvitch was held captive in Africa for ten years. "In former years Paulvitch had been a fastidious scoundrel but ten years of hideous life among the cannibals of Africa had eradicated the last vestige of niceness from his habits." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
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| The Son Of Tarzan |
EVENT: Jack sneaks regularly to visit Akut without his parents knowing it.
SOURCE: "And so Paulvitch encouraged the boy to come and see him often and always he played upon the lad's craving for tales of the savage world with which Paulvitch was all too familiar." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. July 31 to August 16 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
CHAT: Exactly how long this period was the author left unsaid, but he does tell us Jack took up the Mangani language very quickly. He was mostly a mimic and language genius like his father. "He left him alone with Akut much, and it was not long until he was surprised to learn that the boy could make the great beast understand him - that he had actually learned many of the words of the primitive language of the anthropoids." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
.jpeg "The Son Of Tarzan") |
| The Son Of Tarzan |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There, the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.
James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.
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